In Hollywood, people get amnesia all the time. In fact, people get amnesia so often on television and in the movies that it seems like it ought to be declared a public health emergency — except that Hollywood is almost never a reflection of reality. According to Medical News Today, amnesia is actually “very rare,” so the chances that you’ll suddenly remember you’re the heir to an oil fortune are, sadly, vanishingly slim.
That doesn’t mean amnesia doesn’t ever happen, though. According to the Washington Post, Edgar Latulip had “developmental delays” and “mental health challenges” and was off his medication when he disappeared in 1986. His family did know that he was headed for Niagara Falls, and since people often go to Niagara Falls to end their own lives, they feared the worst.
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The only injury Latulip was known to have suffered, however, was a head injury, which evidently was bad enough to cause a bona fide, Hollywood-style case of amnesia. With nowhere to go and no family to call, he ended up settling in the Niagara region under an invented identity (via the Guardian). Then, 30 years later, while living in a group home, he suddenly remembered his real name. With the help of a social worker, Latulip discovered that he was a missing person. His identity was later confirmed through DNA.
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